Seemingly thinking the same thing, neither satan continued the meeting after Serafall left. Uncharacteristically, Falbium didn’t take this opportunity to fall asleep. Rather, the bald satan was deep in contemplation. His head was lowered in thought, and would’ve lasted for a while had Serafalll not returned.

Vwong!

This time, she brought a passenger with her. Holding the very nervous silver-haired woman next to her, she introduced her to her fellow satans.

“This here is Cleria Belial, the Overseer of Kuoh. She knows Igor on a personal level and she will tell us everything we need to know.”

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|DxD|

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Kuoh, Japan

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The park of Kuoh, a beautiful location that one could visit to enjoy the peace. Dozens of trees were planted around the park with the fountain acting as the centre. Whether it was a child or an adult, all would find peace once they entered through the gates.

And as fate would have it, one certain blonde needed that peace.

“I’m never doing this again.”

It was official. Igor hated shopping. To be specific, he now hated shopping for clothes. The whole experience itself was pointless.

“It’s a complete waste of time.”

As he sat on the bench, he grumbled about his first experience. The only reason he even persisted for so long was because Asia and Akeno enjoyed it. Yet no matter how much he loved them, he became tired after the third shop.

[Women. For them it’s shoes, clothes, make-up, and other pointless things. Hours are wasted that could be spent in the gym.]

At first, it was cute watching how interested Asia and Akeno were when Lina showed them different types of make-up. But when she really started getting into the explanations, he found the whole thing grating on his nerves.

[What was it? Six different brushes for eyelashes? Eyelashes need that many brushes? Why the hell would you even need to brush eyelashes?! For all that is holy, it’s just bloody eyelashes!]

He swore he almost tore his hair off when Lina made the purchase for that make-up kit that came with those brushes. Don’t even get him started on the shoes.

[And who the hell needs that many shoes? It’s just shoes!]

The number of illogical things women did genuinely made him confused. He couldn’t help but think of his father’s favourite phrase when he found a huge number of shoes in the car his mother used.

“Tch. Women are troublesome.”

Just thinking of potentially having to deal with a woman at some point in his life made him groan inwardly.

“Oh? I never knew Igor-sama had such thoughts.”

“...”

Of course, he had forgotten that the most troublesome woman was sharing a bench with him. While Akeno and Asia played on the swings, Lina, the facilitator of all his stress, had chosen to sit next to him.

Conveniently enough, all of their shopping bags had vanished, saving him the trouble of carrying them.

“I didn’t have these thoughts before, but now I do. I’ll never understand half the things you women do.”

In fact, he felt he now partially understood why his father was willing to spend so much money on cigars. He claimed it was relaxing and after what he went through, he wondered if he should try smoking.

It would certainly help him forget those women he met.

“By the way, Lina. What was wrong with those girls? They were all looking at me funny.”

The young-looking girl smiled gently but still maintained a respectable distance between herself and him.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“You really don’t know don’t you, Igor-sama? You’re something of a celebrity in this town.”

“...heh? How did that happen?”

Lina couldn’t help but try to suppress a giggle.

“Well, Igor-sama. How many people do you know that can carry a large rucksack full of food on their shoulders?”

“...”

Igor certainly remembered his earlier years.

“You went from supermarkets to butcheries with your rucksack and bought meat from them in bulk. Then you walked around with what certainly must’ve been a few hundred kilograms on your back around town before fading into the outskirts. I can guarantee you, Igor-sama. More than a few dozen people saw you. You left us with quite the workload.”

“...”

At the very least, the blonde had the decency to be embarra-

“Didn’t you erase their memories or something?”

“...”

Lina was baffled that he wasn’t embarrassed. He didn’t even show any signs of feeling sorry.

[How can your face be so thick, Igor-sama? Atleast show some emotion.]

But, she wouldn’t say that out loud.

“We did erase their memories at first, Igor-sama. But when you kept coming back every week, we decided to alter their memories instead of erasing them. That way, anyone who saw you would find it normal, or to be specific, believable for you to carry that amount of weight and we wouldn’t have to constantly erase everyone’s memories amongst other things.”

“...oh. Anyway, why didn’t you attack me?”

“...”

Lina still was appalled at how he so willingly glossed over the issue. Did he not feel any shame? Was he really that shameless? Again, she couldn’t complain out loud, especially not to a person who had the power to kill her before she could blink.

It certainly made her miss the younger him. He was cuter and less dangerous back then.

“We didn’t approach you because Cleria-sama ordered us not to, Igor-sama. It was considered reparations for the…stray devil you encountered all those years ago-?!”

“...”

It was there, but it was brief…that heavy feeling in the air. It was a pressure so suffocating that she felt like her world turned grey for a moment.

Lina glanced out of the corner of her eye to see the two girls were still playing excitedly on the swings. Hearing their laughter, she wondered if that sudden spike of killing intent was an illusion. However, seeing how the blonde had his head lowered, that notion was quickly dispersed.

That heavy feeling just further sealed how strong Igor had gotten in a few short years.

“I apologize for bringing that up, Igor-sama. I promise to never speak of it again.”

He did not speak for a moment or two. Remembering his embarrassing defeat at the hands of an entity who he could crush with his finger was a disgraceful defeat he could never forget.

“Do not worry about that. It was a defeat I suffered and if I have an opinion, a very important one I must say. But moving on, you were telling me about being a celebrity?”

He was smiling, but Lina could see it was somewhat fake. Unfortunately, she lacked the necessary qualifications to help him through the issue. She was neither strong enough nor close enough to him to enquire.

It was why she happily changed the conversation.

“Right. As for you being a celebrity, Igor-sama, I believe it all started three years ago. You see, when you and Shuri-sama went to pick up Akeno at her school, you had exposed your midriff…right in front of a camera. That was when pictures of you started circulating, Igor-sama.”

“...”

The gears in Igor’s head started spinning. He certainly could remember that day. It was very significant since it was also the day when he got the holy book, the holy book that allowed him to become brothers with Atid.

However…

“Lina. That was three years ago. Why would people still remember me?”

“...”

Lina felt a bit embarrassed at his question. She didn’t know how to tell him that most women in Kuoh were just that perverted. Perhaps it was just the energy here, but people here in general were more perverted than normal.

“I cannot answer that question, Igor-sama.”

“...”

Igor couldn’t help but turn to face her as worry formed on his face.

“You mean that after three years, there are women that still have pictures of me from when I looked…fourteen?”

“...”

Apparently, her silence sealed everything.

“Paedophiles. I’m surrounded by bloody paedophiles.”

He sighed tiredly as he palmed his forehead.

“What is wrong with the people of this town?”

First it was Baraquiel. Then it was the teachers at Akeno’s school. Who’s next?

“...”

He then remembered how there were a few older women at the store, women older than Shuri. Turning to face a heavily embarrassed Lina with a wide gaze, he asked.

“Lina. There were aunties there. Are you telling me that they also…”

“...”

Lina couldn’t find it within herself to reply. Yet her silence spoke more than a thousand words.

“Lord help us. Everyone and their mother is a pervert-heh?”

Igor suddenly stood up, his eyes trailing over towards where Cleria’s mansion was. His eyes were narrowed like a hawk as he focused on the appearance of that sudden energy signature.

“Hey Lina. Did you have any visitors today? I felt someone strong appear at Sister Cleria’s house. They’re a devil and they have the power of a low-god class.”

Lina stood up in suspicion.

“No, Igor-sama. As far as I’m aware, there weren’t supposed to be any visits. Could it be Leviathan-sama?”

“No idea. I just thought I’d let you-? They left.”

Lina was very quick to catch on to his word.

“They?”

“Yes. Sister Cleria and that other devil just vanished.”

Compared to how casual the blonde was, Lina was far, far more worried.

“Oh no...”

If it was indeed Serafall and she suddenly took Cleria like that, then this wasn’t a simple summon. This was a direct kidnapping.

“This isn’t right. Cleria-sama is in danger!”

“...”

Igor could be slow at times, but even he could connect the dots.

[They’re after her because of me.]

He could already guess that Cleria was going to be interrogated for information about him. He didn’t know what their methods would be, and he wasn’t willing to wait and find out.

“Lina. Take Akeno and Asia home. I’ll handle this.”

Not caring for the slightly panicking girl, he vanished.

Su!

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AN

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He’s about to attempt to bust down a super high-level meeting between the four satans, isn’t he. Not the brightest move, but he never claimed to be smart in the first place, didn’t he.

If you are interested in reading ahead, you can find more chapters in my patreon under the same username.